What is staking?
Staking is the act of depositing ETH to activate a validator, a participant in Ethereum's consensus protocol. Validators are responsible for proposing new blocks, checking the work of other validators, and attesting to the correct head of the chain. Your own validator requires at least 32 ETH and can hold up to 2048 ETH.
Staking is two things at once. For Ethereum, it is the security mechanism at the heart of proof-of-stake: the ETH validators put at stake is what makes their votes on the state of the chain trustworthy, because an attacker would need to control the majority of all staked ETH to threaten the network. For you, staking is a way to earn ETH rewards for participating honestly in that process.
Honesty is enforced with penalties. Validators that go offline miss rewards and lose small amounts of ETH, while provable misbehavior, such as signing two conflicting blocks, results in slashing: part of the validator's stake is destroyed and the validator is forcibly removed from the network.
Why stake your ETH?
How to stake your ETH
It all depends on how much you are willing to stake, and how directly you want to interact with the Ethereum protocol. You'll need at least 32 ETH to activate your own validator, but it is possible to participate with less.
The options below are ordered from most protocol-native to most abstracted. Home staking is the baseline: you hold your own keys and the protocol pays you directly. Each option after it solves a real access problem, whether that's less ETH, no hardware, or more convenience. In exchange, it places additional software, smart contracts, operators, or custodians between you and Ethereum. Check out the options and go for the one that is best for you, and for the network.
Home staking
Home staking on Ethereum is the gold standard for staking. Nothing stands between you and the protocol: you hold your own keys, and the protocol pays full participation rewards directly to you. It also improves the decentralization of the network and never requires trusting anyone else with your funds.
Those considering staking from home should have some amount of ETH and a dedicated computer connected to the internet ~24/7. Some technical know-how is helpful, but easy-to-use tools now exist to help simplify this process.
Home stakers can go solo with at least 32 ETH. They can also run validators for a staking protocol that matches a smaller bonded deposit with pooled funds. Distributed validator technology can add fault tolerance to any home staking setup.
Delegated staking
If you don't want or don't feel comfortable dealing with hardware but still want to stake your 32 ETH, delegated staking options allow you to hand off the hard part while you earn native block rewards.
These options usually walk you through creating a set of validator credentials, uploading your signing keys to them, and depositing your 32 ETH. This allows the service to validate on your behalf.
This method of staking requires a certain level of trust in the provider. To limit counter-party risk, the keys to withdraw your ETH are usually kept in your possession, and since the Pectra upgrade you can exit your validator directly from your withdrawal address without the operator's cooperation.
Liquid & pooled staking
Several pooling solutions exist to assist users who do not have or feel comfortable staking 32 ETH.
Many of these options include what is known as 'liquid staking', which involves an that represents your staked ETH.
Liquid staking makes staking and unstaking as simple as a token swap and enables the use of staked capital in DeFi. This option also allows users to hold custody of their assets in their own Ethereum .
Pooled staking is not native to the Ethereum network. Third parties are building these solutions, and they carry their own risks: the protocol pays rewards to the pool's validators, not to you directly.
Centralized exchanges
Many centralized exchanges provide staking services if you are not yet comfortable holding ETH in your own wallet. They can be a fallback to allow you to earn some yield on your ETH holdings with minimal oversight or effort.
The trade-off here is that centralized providers consolidate large pools of ETH to run large numbers of validators. This can be dangerous for the network and its users as it creates a large centralized target and point of failure, making the network more vulnerable to attack or bugs.
If you don't feel comfortable holding your own , that's okay. These options are here for you. In the meantime, consider checking out our wallets page, where you can get started learning how to take true ownership over your funds. When you're ready, come back and level up your staking game by trying one of the self-custody pooled staking services offered.
As you may have noticed, there are many ways to participate in Ethereum staking. These paths target a wide range of users and ultimately are each unique and vary in terms of risks, rewards, and trust assumptions. Some are more decentralized, battle-tested and/or risky than others. We provide some information on popular projects in the space, but always do your own research before sending ETH anywhere.
Comparison of staking options
There is no one-size-fits-all solution for staking, and each is unique. Here we'll compare some of the risks, rewards and requirements of the different ways you can stake.
All staking approaches at a glance
The table below adds two approaches not covered above: bonded node operation, where you run validators on your own hardware for a staking protocol that matches your smaller deposit with pooled funds, and custodial staking through centralized exchanges. Every step away from home staking adds middleware between you and the protocol.
| Approach | Your keys? | Your hardware? | Middleware introduced | Who pays you? | Minimum ETH |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Home staking | Yes. You hold both the signing and withdrawal keys. | Yes. You run your own node. | None. You interact directly with the protocol. | The protocol pays you directly. | 32 ETH (a single validator can hold up to 2048 ETH). |
Bonded node operation | Yes. You hold the validator keys, while deposits and rewards flow through the staking protocol's contracts. | Yes. You run your own node. | A staking protocol's smart contracts and rules. | The staking protocol's smart contracts, sharing rewards earned on the matched stake. | A bond of roughly 1.5–4 ETH per validator, depending on the protocol. |
Delegated staking | Partially. You usually keep the withdrawal keys but entrust your signing keys to the operator. | No. The operator runs the node. | The operator's software and infrastructure. | The protocol pays your validator; the operator charges a fee on rewards. | 32 ETH |
Liquid & pooled staking | No. The pool's contracts and operators control the validators, and you hold a receipt token. | No. The pool's operators run the nodes. | The pool's smart contracts and node operators. | The staking protocol's smart contracts, via its token's value or your token balance. | Any amount. Some pools accept as little as 0.01 ETH. |
Centralized exchanges | No. The exchange has custody of your ETH. | No hardware needed. | The exchange's custodial platform. | The exchange, according to its terms. | Any amount. |
Restaking is not on this list. It is a use case for staking tokens, built on top of staking infrastructure. More on restaking
Frequently asked questions
Yes. Staking has been live since December 1, 2020
This means that staking is currently live for users to deposit their ETH, run a validator client, and start earning rewards.
The Shanghai/Capella upgrade was completed April 12, 2023, enabling staking withdrawals and closing the loop on staking liquidity. The Pectra upgrade followed in May 2025, raising the maximum effective balance of a single validator from 32 to 2048 ETH and allowing exits to be triggered directly from a validator's withdrawal address.
More on The MergeRight now! Stakers are free to withdraw their rewards and/or principal deposit from their validator balance if they choose. Since the Pectra upgrade, exits and partial withdrawals can even be triggered directly from your withdrawal address, without needing the validator's signing keys.
Stakers will also earn rewards in the form of fees and MEV when proposing blocks, which are made available immediately via the set fee recipient address.
More on staking withdrawalsAs little as 0.01 ETH through a staking pool, or at least 32 ETH to run your own validator. A single validator can hold up to 2048 ETH: with compounding (0x02) withdrawal credentials, rewards are automatically added to your stake and you earn rewards on every whole ETH above the 32 ETH minimum.
You can participate with less. Bonded node operation lets you run validators on your own hardware for a staking protocol with a bond of roughly 1.5–4 ETH, and staking pools accept almost any amount, some as little as 0.01 ETH.
Deposits are recognized by the network in around 13 minutes. New validators then wait in an activation queue before they start attesting; how long depends entirely on how many others are trying to enter, and can range from hours to weeks.
Exits are processed through a similar rate-limited queue. Staking through a pool is faster to enter: acquiring a liquid staking token is as quick as a token swap, though the underlying validators are subject to the same queues.
There is no 'Eth2' token native to the protocol, as the native token ether (ETH) did not change when Ethereum switched to proof-of-stake.
There are some tokens/tickers that may represent staked ETH, such as liquid staking tokens. Learn more about staking pools
No. Restaking protocols let staked ETH be used again to secure additional applications, in exchange for extra rewards and extra risk: each application adds its own slashing conditions, and withdrawals can face additional delays. Restaking is built by third parties on top of Ethereum. It is not part of Ethereum protocol staking, and its additional rewards do not come from the Ethereum protocol.
More on restakingFurther reading
- How the Pectra upgrade changed staking
- Serenity Design Rationale (opens in a new tab) - Vitalik Buterin
- Upgrading Ethereum: A technical handbook on Ethereum's move to proof-of-stake (opens in a new tab) - Ben Edgington
- Attestant Posts (opens in a new tab)
- Beaconcha.in Community-Contributed Educational Materials (opens in a new tab)
- Ethereum Staking Launchpad FAQ (opens in a new tab)
- EthStaker knowledge base (opens in a new tab)